New Delhi. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, today attended an interactive session with economists and other experts, organized by NITI Aayog, on the theme ‘Economic Policy – The Road Ahead.’

During the session, participants shared their views on various economic themes such as agriculture, skill development and job creation, taxation and tariff related matters, education, digital technology, housing, tourism, banking, governance reform, data driven policy, and future steps for growth.

In his intervention, the Prime Minister thanked various participants for their suggestions and observations. In particular, he called for innovative approaches in areas such as skill development and tourism.

Speaking about the budget cycle, he said this has an effect on the real economy. He said that in our existing budget calendar, the authorization of expenditure comes with the onset of the monsoon. This he said, results in government programmes being relatively inactive in the productive pre-monsoon months.

He said that keeping this in view, the date of budget presentation is being advanced, so that expenditure is authorized by the time the new financial year begins.

The meeting was attended by the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, the Minister of State for Planning Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, the Vice Chairman NITI Aayog Shri Arvind Panagariya, and senior officers from the Union Government and NITI Aayog.